Issue Brief: Nuclear Weapons in Europe after the INF Treaty
The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty was rightly regarded as one of the most important nuclear disarmament agreements. After the INF treaty's demise in August 2019, the question is how to prevent further deterioration of the security climate and reduce the risk of a new nuclear arms race in Europe.
Abstract
By eliminating all ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, the INF-treaty resolved a tense nuclear standoff in Europe and helped end the Cold War by changing the security environment on the continent. After the end of the treaty there are a number of ways to approach the issues that it had help to solve, but it is clear that finding a solution will be a challenging task, given the low level of trust between Russia and the United States, the erosion of the traditional arms control architecture and the emergence of new technologies and threats.
